A crackdown on pollution, homes for rough sleepers and weekly food waste collections have all been put forward in an alternative plan for Cambridge.

The Lib Dems, who are the opposition to the current Labour Cambridge City Council, have outlined the proposals in their newly-published alternative budget.

In 2019-20, Cambridge City Council is hoping to make savings and additional income to contribute about £1.8million to the council’s annual budget of about £20 million.

This will be the first year the city council has had to do without its core government grant funding which has declined from £5.6 million five years ago to zero in April 2019. The council will, instead, have to fund services through business rates, paid services, and council tax, which is likely to go up by three per cent.

Cambridge City Council

The city council is likely to put up council tax by three per cent. For a typical band D property, this will mean an increase of £51 a year from £1,709.06 to 1760.33.

Other proposals to be discussed later this month include providing more council housing, developing a new city quarter around the Cambridge North station, and making the shopmobility scheme, which provides motorised scooters to disabled shoppers so they can access the city centre, free again. As well as this, the council wants to make provision to bring beleaguered events trust Cambridge Live back in house with a £750,000 council bail-out.

There are also plans to invest £49,000 over two years to employ a specialist “Air Quality Officer” to help the council tackle air pollution in Cambridge.

The Lib Dems, the main opposition party in Cambridge, have set out some alternative suggestions of their own.

Rough sleeping

The Lib Dems have called for a £12.5m investment in buying houses from the market. They say 40 of these would be let to key public service workers at local living rents (one third of household income), and five would be added to a scheme providing shared rented accommodation to help get homeless individuals quickly back on their feet and prevent rough sleeping.

Cllr Rod Cantrill, Lib Dem housing spokesman said: “Housing costs and availability are at the root of so much disadvantage in Cambridge. The council is a key stakeholder and has the means to make a difference in this critical area; it should do so instead of leaving the money in the bank where it will achieve a worse financial return.”

Pollution

The Lib Dems aim to tackle air pollution in Cambridge (Image: Getty Images)

The Lib Dem proposals include a series of measures to improve air quality. They are calling for an education campaign to stop drivers leaving their engines idling when stationary and out of traffic.

They say the council would use mobile monitoring equipment to fill out evidence of pollution-sensitive areas like schools. As well as this, they say they would plant 5,000 more trees with the co-operation of local schools.

They are also calling for a comprehensive strategy for charging points for electric vehicles to make the switch easier and more attractive.

Cllr Anthony Martinelli, Lib Dem environment spokesman, said: “People die from poor air quality. We need action now to alert everyone to the impact of our behaviour and our choices.”

Recycling

Would you want a regular food waste collection?

The Lib Dem amendment also looks at waste reduction and recycling. They say they want a separate weekly food waste collection service evaluated, which they say could offer “both domestic and environmental benefits”.

They are also proposing 20 new water fountains in public spaces across the city, to help reduce single use plastic waste.

Cllr Colin McGerty, who speaks for the Lib Dems on streets and open spaces, said: “The drive to cut waste and promote recycling badly needs to be restored at the city council and we are pointing to ways of doing so.”

Power over planning

Neighbours are currently notified about planning applications. (Image: iStockphoto)

The Lib Dems say they want to “fight proposals to cut back on notifying neighbours in the vicinity of planning applications and to increase the number of applications decided in private by officers under delegated powers”.

Cllr Damien Tunnacliffe, Lib Dem planning spokesman, said: “In a city with so much pressure for growth and so much controversy over planning matters, these steps will seriously reduce transparency and accountability and we want them stopped.”

Clean streets

The Lib Dems want a cleaner city centre. This overflowing bin was spotted in 2017. Picture: Richard Taylor

The alternative budget also calls for the council to invest in new electrically-powered street cleaning equipment to help keep the city centre street clean.

Lib Dem finance spokesman, Cllr Jamie Dalzell said: “Our budget is funded through better use of resources the council already has. There is no financial reason why the council could not agree with our proposals, unless it disagrees with our priorities for making our city cleaner, greener and fairer.”